The US M46 Medium Tank

In the early post World War 2 era, the US was still operating WW2 tanks, which they went on to further upgrade whilst developing new ones. One of these upgraded tanks is the M46, which started life as an upgraded WW2 M26 Pershing heavy tank.

The upgrade involved the replacement of the M26’s engine and transmission with the Continental AV1790-3 engine and Allison CD-850-1 cross-drive transmission. Another upgrade was a new 90mm main gun with a bore evacuator. The 4inch armour remained the same.

1100+ M26 Pershing’s were manufactured during WW2, of which 800 were upgraded by Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant into the M26E2, which was re-designated the M46 from 1949, entering US Army service in 1950 as a medium class tank and formed part of the Patton series.

Further improvements later on resulted in the M46A1 variant, which had improved brakes, cooling and fire suppression systems, as well as, improved electrical equipment, AV-1790-5B engine and CD-850-4 transmission.